The Income Tax Department said that persons receiving gifts either in cash or kind will have to pay tax, if the cost price of gift exceeds Rs 50,000. 

The Central Board of Direct Taxes has said that the norms would be effective from October 1. 

However, it would not be applicable on the gifts given by relatives or on the occasion of marriage. The CBDT also said that there would be no tax on gifts received by way of will, inheritance or in the event of death of the donor.

As per a statement came from India’s Rural Development Minister, C P Joshi, a Bill to offer acquisition of land for industrial projects and SEZs has been sanctioned by the Cabinet. The Bill will be presented in the Parliament after getting permission from the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry.

Talking on this, C P Joshi said, “As far as the Land Acquisition Bill is concerned, it has already been approved by the Cabinet. Now, the question when it will be introduced in Parliament has to be addressed by the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry.”

Finally, the Home Ministry has withdrawn X-category security from 30 VIPs, including former chief Justice of India Y S Sabarwal.

Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram also refused to take any security, saying that security should be given only to those who either face credible threats or are holding Constitutional posts.

According to a Home Minister official, the list of X-Category protectees has come down to 20 after a detailed review by security and intelligence agencies.

According to senior Government official, the long waited Direct Tax Code Bill is most likely to come into action by the Monsoon Session of Parliament 2010. The so called bill will replace the taxation system that companies in India have been following for the past fifty years.

At a seminar on Direct Tax Code Bill, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Arobind Modi said, “We are hoping that by the 2010 monsoon session it should be legislation.”

Shiv Sena activists expressed their anger against the increase in power tariff by forcibly shutting down seven bill payment centers in South Mumbai.

During the protest, Sena leader Pandurang Sakpal said, “We are protesting against the power tariff hike which is causing lot of problems for common people.”

In the mean time, hundreds of Shiv Sainiks jammed road traffic at Girgaun in South Mumbai, all protesting against the power tariff hike.

13 Shiv Sena workers were arrested by the police during the demonstration.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called a full planning commission meeting on September 1 to discuss and to assess the 11th five-year Plan targets, both growth and sectoral.

It is an important meeting as PM is expected to discuss the current financial status of country as the poor monsoon has led to drought conditions in many states, and the manufacturing sector is still recovering from the global slowdown.

Indian’s leading investigation agency, CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) will shortly approach the Interpol to seek the RCN (red corner notice) against the LeT Founder Hafiz Muhammad Saeed for masterminding the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

The CBI has collected all the papers from Mumbai Police, including the non-bailable warrants issued by the special trial court against Pakistan based Saeed. The warrants will become the basis for seeking the red corner notice from the Interpol.

Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi has ordered its party leaders to contribute at least 20% of their salary for one year to fight with ‘drought’ and ‘price rise’.

In addition of pay cuts, MLAs, MPs and salaried functionaries have been asked to travel economically, live simply and avoid flamboyance.

The whole process occurred during the Congress Working Committee meeting on Wednesday.

The Rajiv Gandhi Awards were presented at the 12th awards ceremony in Mumbai on Wednesday. It was a sparking award ceremony during which many youths from their respective fields were honored.

The winners of the 12th Rajiv Gandhi Awards were from different categories but one thing they have in common is that they have motivated many other youths to work hard to achieve their targets.

This year, Rajiv Gandhi Awards were distributed among 12 categories.

Indian Railways is all set to implement 'smart' ticketing at the stations across the country in order to reduce long queues at ticketing counters.

Under this scheme, India railways has decided to set up 6,344 Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVMs) at five major cities namely New Delhi, Secunderabad, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar and Pune.